The East Village's Indie Businesses Are on a Losing Streak

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

It's not a good time to be an indie business owner in the East Village because it's full of "evil, selfish, greedy landlords." At least that's how one Huffington Post writer and neighborhood resident puts it following the closure of Glasgow Vintage, a Scottish-based shop on East 9th Street that's folded after just a year.

"They had always dreamed of having a shop in New York's East Village, after successfully owning a top vintage store in Glasgow," Nancy Cohen-koan writes. "What they didn't bargain for was an avaricious landlord who had scaffolding and a trash bin in front of his shop for most of the year."

She points out that this is the fourth shop forced out of business in this tiny area this past summer, also mentioning Dusty Buttons, Sustainable NYC, and Café Pick Me Up. If we extend that time frame a little further, that list would include vintage boutique Grey Era and Fab 208. And it's not hard to find further signs of struggle, like Trash and Vaudeville's upcoming move and continued troubles for St. Mark's Bookshop—and new tenants like CVS aren't helping anything.

At least there's a couple hopeful stories out there, like Bonnie Slotnick's successful relocation and the revival of Enz's Boutique after the East Village explosion. Long story short? Support your local businesses.